


Radiance With You

by VeryLateTrash



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Colours, Crush, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Love, M/M, Mild Angst, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 23:12:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13468587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryLateTrash/pseuds/VeryLateTrash
Summary: Stanley Uris knows that the only way to see the colours that Richie tells him about is to find the one person that he's meant to be with-his soulmate. He knows this, but he doesn't understand why he saw them when he first saw Bill-and why Bill didn't see them back. Will Stan ever find his soulmate?





	Radiance With You

Stan guessed that the first time he ever considered the fact that he was living in a world of black and white was when Richie gasped dramatically, making him turn around toward his direction.  
His best friend was spinning around in idiotic circles. He'd pushed his glasses to sit on top of his head, and one of his curls was bouncing back into his face. Richie gave out a, "Wowza! Do you see that, Stan the Man?"  
Stan, a fourth grader at the time, was like a small adult. He wore nice fitting polo shirts that were tucked into the slacks and khaki's he wore, depending on the day. With his appearance was a fitting personality, one which to most people, seemed dry and sarcastic -and sometimes, it was. He said, lacking the oddball dry, adultish tone of his voice, "What do you mean, Rich?"  
Richie was smiling wide enough that Stan thought, for a split second, that Richie's face would actually tear in half. Richie's face was flushed with a childish blush, making the freckles that were splashed so freely across his cheeks and nose show up even more, "The colours, Stanny! The ones they taught us in kindergarten, but we've never seen! I can see them!"  
Stan's eyebrows furrowed, "What? That's impossible. Mrs. Thomas said we can't see them until we're adults. She said that most kids can't see them, I remember."  
Richie's head was shaking slightly, opposing Stan's logical argument, "Nah, dude! I can see them! They're so... chuckalicious." Richie gave him a slight wink, "That's my new word now. Momma let me listen to the radio the other night and the guy said that. I like it, don't you?"  
Stan shrugged, letting Richie ramble about some tangent that he'd gone off on; Stan was more concerned with the claim that Richie made. He can really see them? Why Richie, and not him?  
The teacher had told them that the colours are something you can only see once you've touched the love of your life. No. That's not the phrase she used. It was something else. Something with a more powerful tone. Soulmate. That's the word she used.  
And, while Stanley had some issues with the idea of a person being able to cause you to suddenly be able to see all these shades that apparently exist, he'd never been one to question the authority or word of a teacher. To be frank, he was always nervous to. So, while he was a tad bit doubtful of the subject, he did have a fundamental belief that it was somehow true. Somehow, somewhere, Stanley had a soulmate of his very own.  
And, while it made no clear sense, that thought, that wonderful idea, made him inexplicably happy.  
Stanley's eyes followed in the direction that Richie was gazing at. Huh. Richie was staring at a shorter boy clutching onto an inhaler that seemed too big for his small hands.  
...  
Years later, the small group of four, consisting of Stanley, Richie-who was somehow still Stanley's best friend, (Stanley couldn't deny the love and care he felt for Richie)-, Eddie, whom Stanley had been introduced to shortly after Richie met him, (the two both remember the day when colours bloomed in front of their eyes so clearly, that Stan felt a pang of jealousy every time they talked about it), and a boy named Bill Denbrough, who had a stutter and the brightest, most determined eyes in their school, entered the eighth grade.  
Stan remembered when they first met Bill. It was a year after Richie and Eddie met. Stan noticed how the two were always glued to each other's side. They claimed that it was how you see the brilliant colours. When apart from whomever your partner...soulmate...was, you could no longer see then.  
They'd all go out to the quarry, and where Stan would see variant shades of grey in the waters and forestry, they would, with the big, wandering eyes of fourth graders, gaze upon the scenery of bright blues and greens. The oranges and reds streaking across the sky as the sun either rose or set would reflect in the water. That's what they said. Richie tried his best to describe the colours to Stanley. Richie may be a trashmouth, but he always tried to help his friends-especially Stan-when they were clearly upset.  
And, wow, was Stan upset.  
Until, he first saw Bill. They were playing out in the quarry, as usual, though now they were all proud fifth graders.  
Richie had dared Eddie, who was wearing a light pink pair of shorts that his mom had gotten him, to jump off the cliff side and straight into the water. Eddie set his hands on his hips, rolling his eyes at Richie and proclaiming, "Don't you know how dangerous that is, Rich? I don't want to break my arm, or anything!"  
Richie stuck his tongue out at Eddie, "You can't break your arm on water, Eds!"  
Eddie huffed, "Don't call me that, Richie!" Richie gave him the big puppy eyes that were somehow even more magnified underneath his glasses, the ones that made even Stan give into some of Richie's more otherworldly ideas. Eddie sighed, pursed lips twisting into a sort of smile, "Okay. Fine. But, only if you jump with me."  
Richie grinned, "Done deal, Spaghetti Man!" And so, the two locked hands and ran off the cliff, landing with a large splash in the water.  
Stanley knew that as soon as their fingers touched, the view became so much prettier. So much more...surreal. And, Stan sighed. He wished he could see the colours like his friends could.  
Then came along little Bill Denbrough, wearing a pair of swimming trunks and a loose fitting tank top. Loose fitting only because Bill was so oddly thin.  
He caught Stan's eyes immediately. Stan wasn't used to anyone but him and his two friends down here in the quarry- this part of it, at least. Stan waved at him a little, "Hi. Are you swimming?"  
Stan felt Bill's eyes on him, a stunning blue that could've knocked someone off their feet. Luckily, Stan was sitting.  
Bill smiled a little, "Y-Yeah. M-M-My mom w-wanted me t-to get out of th-the house. S-Says that I-I should be playing s-since it's s-summer."  
Stan nodded, looking to the ground for a moment. He looked up again, "Well, my friends are already down there. Do you want to maybe swim with us?"  
Stan was inwardly screaming. Maybe since Richie met his person a year ago, then he'd meet his now. And, Bill seemed nice enough. It sure would be amazing to be able to see all the brilliance that Richie blabbed on to Stanley about. And...maybe *feel* that brilliance, as well.  
Bill's soft smile grew wider, "S-Sure!" Bill brushed past Stan. Their shoulders touched and Stan's breathing caught. For that small moment, he saw a flicker of colour. Stan's eyes grew round, "Did...Did you see that?"  
Bill tilted his head, "Did I s-see what?"  
Stan was too excited. Bill could actually be the one person that lets him see beauty, "The colour!"  
Bill shook his head, "No. I-I haven't s-seen it yet. M-Mom says I-I'll probably h-have to wait u-until I'm older." Bill tilted his head again, "You s-s-saw it?"  
Stan was confused. And then, his heart sank as realization set on him. He'd seen it, but Bill hadn't. He wasn't sure what significance that held, but he knew one thing: He and Bill weren't a pair. "Uh, no, I thought I did, but I think I'm just tired."  
Stan shook away the awful feeling that came with that memory. He felt utterly rejected. Stan knew that it wasn't Bill's fault, he hadn't even told Bill of what he saw in that brief moment, but he still felt an odd bit of detachment from Bill when he announced to the group that he met someone.  
Bill was practically beaming with excitement, "W-We bumped h-hands in the h-hall. I-I saw it. The walls were wh-white, I think. Th-The one the k-kindergarten teacher said was blank. A-And, maybe blue. It was a-amazing. She had r-really cute b-braids, and...Overalls. She w-was wearing these short o-overalls." Bill gave off a quiet sigh of contentment, "H-Her name i-is B-Buh-Beverly."  
Eddie smiled a bit, touching shoulders with Richie, "Did she see them, too?"  
Bill nodded, "I-I asked her that, a-and sh-she said, 'Yes'." Stan noticed how he was biting his lip in a cute kind of way. It meant he was truly happy.  
Stan felt even more awful. That means Richie, Eddie, and Bill have all met their soulmates. He hadn't seen the colours since the incident with Bill in the summer of fifth grade. He wondered often if that was his only chance. Maybe you only get one person and if you see the colours and they don't, there's no one else.  
Stan was filled with dread. Would he be able to see them again? Would he ever gaze upon the deep greens and blues of the quarry? The stark white of the halls, mixed with a light blue? Would he...Would he ever be able to feel the love that Richie and Eddie feel for each other, despite the constant bickering and teasing between the two? Maybe that's how they showed it. Doesn't matter. Stan wasn't sure he'd know it, anyway.  
The next following days were some of the most miserable in Stan's life. He knew he was making it worse on himself by wallowing in his self pity, but he wasn't sure how to make himself feel better.  
He was walking, no, more like trudging his way back from school. He didn't even bother to take his bike that morning and now he's stuck walking back. Stan wasn't really sure he had the energy to do anything but sulk his way back to his bed and sleep for the rest of eternity.  
His eyes were lowered, focusing on the ground rather than on the sidewalk ahead of him. If he accidentally stepped off into the street, it'd take being under a speeding car to make him aware of it.  
Looking back on it, Stan would probably agree that this was the reason why the next event went as it did. Stan was suddenly on the ground, his bird book knocked out of his hand.  
Stan groaned a little, holding his head, which hit the sidewalk when he'd fallen. Stan's elbows had been scraped, but he didn't think they were bleeding all that much.  
A gentle, worried voice spoke to him, "I'm so sorry! A-Are you alright, man?"  
Stan looked up, seeing a boy about his age standing over him. His eyebrows were raised in alarm and worry.  
The other boy was holding something out to him, "It fell..."  
Stan had to smile a bit. His bird book was safe, at least. Stan reached out to accept the small book with the worn out covers. It was the only thing Stan owned that wasn't in pristine condition. He used it too often for it to be.  
Stan's fingertips swept just over the other boy's, and suddenly, just like all those years ago with Bill, Stan could see every bit of loveliness he'd ever imagined.  
Stan's eyes flickered up, not at all the things he'd always expected he'd look at first if he ever got the chance to see colours again, but up to meet the boy's eyes. Stan took in everything. The boy's shirt, his deep eyes, his hair and how it seemed to get a slightly lighter shade of black near his ears, everything. He was transfixed. Stan took in, especially, the light blush that was forming on the other's face.  
Stan didn't-couldn't-make any sudden movements. He slowly, slowly, took his book back, sitting on the ground still as the colours were yanked away from him.  
The boy seemed to be as dumbfounded as he was. "Did you..." The boy bit his lip in a way similar to how Bill did when speaking about Beverly, "Did you feel that?"  
Feel. Not see. The boy asked him if he felt that rush. And, hell yes, he did.  
Stan just nodded simply, "You saw them, too?"  
The boy couldn't fight his smile, which Stan immediately decided he liked. It was soft, gentle, tender, just like how this boy seemed to be. The boy reached his hand out to him, as if to help him up to his feet. Stan accepted the help, once again seeing everything in its scintillating wonder. The two didn't pull away, though Stan wasn't sure himself whether it was because they wanted to enjoy the vibrant hues, or if there was another, more meaningful reason. The other boy simply said, "I'm Mike. Mike Hanlon."  
Stan finally had the sense to return Mike's smile, "Stanley Uris."


End file.
